OPENING DAYS AND TIMES DURING THE YEAR
School starts at 7.30am Monday to Friday and finishes at 12.20 pm (we
also have an aftercare which is open until 1.30pm). Please ensure your
child arrives between 7.30am and 8.15am, allowing us “free play” and
“settling in time” together. Peek-a-Boo follows the private school
terms. Please see 2024 term dates and half-term dates below.
Our term and half term dates TO BE DIARISED for 2025 are:
First Term : Wed 15 Jan – Fri 04 Apr
Half Term : Thu 20 Feb – Tue 25 Feb
Second Term : Tue 6 May – Fri 8 Aug
Half term : Fri 27 Jun – Mon 7 Jul
Third Term : Wed 03 Sep – Wed 03 Dec
Half term : Thu 16 Oct – Tue 21 Oct
Public Holidays : Fri 21 Mar, Mon 16 Jun, Wed 24 Sep
Our security guard/maintenance man/gardener, employed from 7.30am Monday
to Friday, is armed with a panic button linked into ADT’s control room.
He will be watching out for the safety of the children, parents and
cars. He is there to try and slow the traffic down, not to stop the
traffic. There is heavy traffic along 5th Avenue in the mornings so
please parents, manoeuvre your children in and out of the car
ON THE PAVEMENT SIDE OF THE ROAD. Please do not ask our security
guard to bring your child to the schoolroom, as his presence in 5th
Avenue during drop off and collection times is imperative. Peek-a-Boo
staff will man the gates should he be absent.
The gate will be open for drop off from 7.30am and will close at 8.15am.
Thereafter the gates will be locked and the driveway alarm set, ensuring
the safety of the children.
Between 8.15am and 12.20pm the gate will not be opened for any late
arrivals so please do not ring the bell to be let in after 8.15am and
before 12.20pm.
It would be wise therefore to keep appointments for your child to after
school hours.
INNOCULATION FORM
We are a registered playgroup and the Health Department require a copy
of your child’s updated Inoculation Form for us to keep on file.
ENROLLMENT, FEE STRUCTURE AND NOTICE PERIOD
Avaliable in downloadable
Rules and Regulations
or given on request.
ILLNESS
If your child is absent, please telephone us between 07h30 and 08h30. If
your child has a contagious illness, including a cough or heavy cold,
please keep him/her at home. Children with illnesses such as
gastric-enteritis, chicken pox or skin infections such as lice or
ringworm or any suspicious looking rashes cannot be readmitted to the
school without a medical certificate. Please do not send your child to
school if you are worried about him/her developing a temperature or
relapsing with an illness. See
Illness Policy 2024
attached hereto.
TOYS
Please only allow your little one to bring a toy that is relevant to the
weekly theme. We do, however, encourage the children to bring one of
their special books to be read at story time and then the book is placed
back in the child’s bag after story time.
SNACK
Peek-a-Boo will provide a mid-morning snack for the children. The snack
will be healthy sandwiches, seasonal fruits and on occasion noodles,
sausages, yoghurt or other food varieties. Peek-a-Boo has a nut free
policy. Please refer to downloadable
Rules and Regulations
for more information.
CLOTHING AND BELONGINGS
Please mark the suitcase or backpack with your child’s name; a motif
stuck on the case helps your child identify his/her own suitcase. Please
mark all clothing such as hats, socks, vests, underwear, tracksuit tops,
shoes, bottles, dummies, etc. with a laundry marker. We are not
responsible for clothing or belongings being lost or mislaid, so please
make sure they are marked with your child’s name.
In the suitcase there should be a spare set of clothes,
three disposable nappies, wipes and cream, if not toilet trained. Please
send your child to school in play clothes and not party clothes,
especially on a Wednesday (messy painting).
CREATIVE ACTIVITIES
We work to simple weekly themes (e.g. colours, shapes, fruit, etc) at
the beginning of the year. As the year progresses, the themes become
more advanced. We would like the children to participate in the themes
as best they can. An item relating to our weekly theme can be brought
for ‘show and tell’. The ‘Theme for the Week’ will be posted on our
WhatsApp group.
Your child will be bringing home drawings and items pertaining to the
weekly theme,that he/she has done himself/herself after they have
settled into the term. Please be enthusiastic about them even though
they may seem just like squiggles or non-items to you! To your child it
is a very big achievement.
As the year progresses, you will see a marked development in your
child’s work. Please do not expect works of art. There is no value
whatsoever in a project that is done almost entirely by the teacher. The
projects that we do will be simple ones that will allow the fullest
possible participation by the child. Your child will be learning and
developing through their play and their interaction with the teachers
and their peers.
EXTRA MURAL ACTIVITIES
It needs to be emphasized that there is no pressure on parents to enroll
their child in any of the extra mural activities. Extra mural
activities, which we offer during school hours, are kiddies Yoga
(excellent coping skills and calming techniques) and Playball. Yoga will
be on a Monday morning and Playball on a Thursday morning. Parents are
most welcome to watch these activities. The extra murals will start in
February once the children have settled. More information about the
extra mural activities will be sent out by the vendors when school
starts.
OUR TWO GROUPS OF CHILDREN
Please do not rush your child/ren to nursery school until ready in age.
The correct age for the child to attend nursery school is the year the
child turns 4 years. By moving your child after one year in the
‘littlie’ group at Peek-a-Boo to a nursery school, the child again
becomes the ‘baby’ at the nursery school. There is huge merit and indeed
an important part of a child’s development to feel a sense of importance
and self-worth by becoming a ‘biggie’. They are given small
responsibilities and perform little duties, tasks and errands with great
pride.
‘BIGGIE’ GROUP
These children turn 3 the year they are with us. In the class room of
the older children there is structure even to our ‘free play’. The
children are supervised and are encouraged to perform a mind stimulating
activity of their choice as they arrive in the morning. We work on their
cutting skills, their auditory memory, concentration, pencil control,
fine motor coordination, gross motor coordination, speech, socializing
skills and many other necessary skills so that they have the confidence
and self-esteem to enter the structured nursery school system. So yes,
we do properly prepare these little ones for the nursery school system
and feedback we receive from nursery schools is that they love teaching
Peek-a-Boo children as they are independent, confident and very ‘ready’
for the extra challenges of nursery school.
‘LITTLIE’GROUP
These children turn 2 the year they join Peek-a-Boo. The ‘littlie’ group
involves a lot of teaching of socializing skills through encouragement,
nurturing, praise and fun. Helping the little ones to conquer separation
anxiety and to feel secure is an important challenge for the teachers.
Sharing, caring and kindness is our motto!
From the start we at Peek-a-Boo target the child’s emotional
intelligence (EQ). Our belief is that if their EQ is in place and
stable, the cognitive side of the child’s development is a natural
process for the child to grasp.
The equipment in each schoolroom is age appropriate but some of it can
be challenging for the child/ren – again targeting the child’s
self-esteem and confidence level. We teach the children to achieve for
themselves, not for the teachers or their friends. We work with a lot of
positive praise (when due).
So please allow your child the extra year with us, after which they will
leave with a good self-image, a sense of self-importance, confidence, a
good feeling in their subconscious about the word ‘school’ and generally
at an age and stage where they will be ready and confident to tackle
(physically, emotionally and mentally) the more formal nursery school
scenario.
Parents, although we consider our learning structure at Peek-a-Boo to be
semi-formal, PLEASE remember THE IMPORTANCE OF LEARNING THROUGH PLAY. Do
not rush your little one through milestones of learning for which they
are not ready. Each ‘stage’ of a child’s development is important that
it be explored thoroughly and not rushed through.
REPORTS
Reports will be given for the children leaving the older group for
nursery school. Only if your child has been with us for a minimum period
of 4 months and has attended playgroup on a regular basis, will you
receive an end of year report on your child’s progress and development.
SCHOOL MORNINGS AND TIMES
Please keep the mornings before school relaxed for your child. If you
are tense or rushing or worried about leaving him/her, your child will
react accordingly. Always say goodbye to your child and reassure him/her
with the remark that you will be back for him/her later, and then leave.
Do not prolong the departure. Please trust us enough to know that we
will not allow your child to become unduly distressed and will phone you
should there be a problem or your child has not settled for the morning.
BIRTHDAY RINGS
All children enjoy celebrating their birthdays at school. It is usual
for a child celebrating a birthday to book a date for his/her party at
school and to supply cup cakes for their classmates to participate (due
to COVID regulations at the moment, this arrangement needs to be
discussed first with myself). Parents and/or relatives and/or friends
are most welcome to join the birthday ring, which is held on either a
Tuesday or a Friday at 12 o’clock. If you would like a birthday ring for
your child, please book the party day with one of the teachers.
GENERAL
For the safety of the children please park on the Peek-a-Boo side of the
road when dropping off and collecting – do not drive up the driveway. A
child must not arrive or leave without adult supervision and we must be
notified of any other person collecting your child.
Should any parent have any questions or feel the need to discuss a
problem concerning your child, we would like to help wherever possible.
(For example we need to know if dad is away or your child has not eaten
breakfast, or the family pet is ill or any other incident which may
unsettle your child).
We would also appreciate any school “problems” be discussed with myself
directly. Any rumours will be dealt with immediately as invariably they
boomerang back to us at Peek-a-Boo. We like to keep the atmosphere at
Peek-a-Boo informal and relaxed with an ‘open door’ policy, but take
very seriously any concerns regarding your child.
We look forward to teaching and stimulating your child’s physical,
emotional and social development through fun and play.
Enjoy your morning and relax with the knowledge that your child is happy
and very well cared for. Should you need to contact Peek-a-Boo please
call us on 0827041451.
We look forward to another wonderful year at Peek-a-Boo and welcome and
embrace all our parents and children in 2024.
- Best regards
- Lesley O’Brien
